Hello again :)

It’s been a few months since I’ve posted anything here. Truth be told, I’ve been hyper-focused on other things besides writing. Not writing is a bad habit though. Writing is critical, and something I’ll be doing a lot more of. So, hello again 🙂 So what’s been taking up my time? My last post about … [Read more…]

The Path Of A Reluctant Data Scientist

I’m a self-described “reluctant data scientist”. Wait? Didn’t Harvard say that data scientist is the hottest job of the 21st century? Why would someone reluctantly claim title to the rockstar status, money, and glory that come along with being a data scientist? In my personal experience, there’s a big gap between data science hype and the … [Read more…]

The Point Of Struggle – Ai vs Balkanized Reality (Podcast)

In this episode of The Point Of Struggle, David Gonzalez and I riff on AI, ethics, and balkanized reality. Listen here The conversation ties to a post I wrote in March about leaving Facebook. Expect more conversations like this, since its a topic that I constantly think about. Speaking of which, a tweet this morning … [Read more…]

Perfect Handstands and Hard Projects

Shareholder letters are an opportunity for a CEO to explain their company’s place in the universe, where they’ve been, and where they’re going. Twice a year, I drop everything and read shareholder letters from two of my favorite CEOs – Warren Buffett and Jeff Bezos. They’re not just great CEOs (they’re excellent). They’re also world … [Read more…]

Unfriending Facebook, AKA Derpbook

After over a decade on Facebook, I finally decided to unfriend Facebook. The recent revelations of Facebook’s latest fiasco with Cambridge Analytica (and likely hundreds or thousands of similar incidents) was the tipping point for me. Actions. Not words. Enough is enough. #deletefacebook pic.twitter.com/EaCnzlOWID — Joe Reis (@josephreis) March 21, 2018 For the last couple … [Read more…]

The AI Hype Cycle, Talent Wars, And Internet Comment Threads

Last week, somebody on Hacker News posted a link to a Bloomberg article titled “Sky-High Salaries Are the Weapons in the AI Talent War”. The article itself was good, and predictably discussed how the shortage of AI talent is driving up salaries. But what really stood out for me were the Hacker News comments on … [Read more…]

Use The Source – A Quick Tip For Re-Architecting With Legacy Data

One of my client engagements involves re-architecting the data and BI platforms for an 80 year old company. As you can imagine, there’s a ton of data across countless legacy systems. Data and systems have piled on top of each other over the decades. The vast majority of the data is undocumented, derived (hence, possibly … [Read more…]

Your Company Probably Isn’t Ready For Data Science (And That’s OK!)

Your company wants to “do data science” ** or “become a data company”. These are definitely noble and well intentioned goals. Not trying to be negative, but I’m going to bet that your company probably isn’t ready for data science. And that’s perfectly OK. For the past several years, I’ve led data initiatives for companies … [Read more…]

How To Deal With Tech Burnout

Tech burnout is real, and a lot of my friends working in tech are currently experiencing burnout in a major way. Friends of all personality dispositions, ages, technical skill sets, titles, and disciplines are all simultaneously burning out. Top caliber people and totally burned out. I think there’s something particular with tech burnout. The tech … [Read more…]